We've been getting quite a few comments recently in various sub-forums regarding the Cinavia copy protection and as it's difficult to answer these individually without crossposting the same information I've started this general thread here in the main Movie Copy Software forum.

So this thread is for general discussion regarding Cinavia and any related comments/software.

In the meantime here's some general information that I've posted elsewhere in response to other queries.

The Cinavia protection operates by modifying certain audio frequencies to create a watermark in the audio stream which survives normal audio processing/conversions.

So far it hasn't been successfully removed.

To remove it the audio will have to be processed appropriately, based on the Cinavia algorithms.

At the moment there's no method of establishing how these algorithms work although this may change if current efforts to reverse engineer the PS3 firmware turn out to be successful.

Even if the algorithms can be determined though it remains to be seen if Cinavia can be successfully removed without significantly degrading the audio.

Personally I wouldn't expect this to be beaten any time soon but hopefully I'm wrong.

I’d started this originally as a general discussion thread and had intended to add to it but I haven’t looked at this in a while now so I thought I’d see what has happened with regard to Cinavia in the last year.

One of the things I came across was this Verance press release which I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere here and seems to be a significant development.

Basically it sets out the time frame for the compulsory inclusion of Cinavia in all standalone Blu-ray players.

[B]AACS Announces Schedule for the Inclusion of Cinavia in Blu-ray Disc Players[/B]

Veranceâ€™s watermark-based content protection technology becomes mandatory
July 20, 2011 â€” SAN DIEGO â€” AACS LA, LLC today announced that, pursuant to the provisions of its license agreements with Blu-ray Disc player manufacturers, the inclusion of the Cinavia technology from Verance Corporation will become mandatory for all Blu-ray Disc players as of February 1, 2012.

Cinavia, the standard for protection of filmed entertainment content, employs Verance watermarking technologies to extend the existing content security architecture for Blu-ray Disc to protect against the use of unauthorized copies of commercial movies, such as those originating from in-theater camcording or â€œrippedâ€ Blu-ray Discs or DVDs. Cinavia has been licensed by major motion picture studios including Universal Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and employed in numerous theatrical, Blu-ray Disc, and DVD releases.

Cinavia has been an element of AACSâ€™ architecture since June 2009, when AACS LA issued their final technical specifications and license agreements. Since then, Cinavia has been licensed by dozens of Blu-ray Disc player and component manufacturers, integrated into leading Blu-ray Disc player chipsets, and deployed in over 45 million Blu-ray Disc players sold to consumers.

â€œConsumers love Blu-ray Disc for the great entertainment experience that it delivers and Verance is thrilled to have this opportunity to support its growth,â€ said chief executive, Nil Shah. â€œThe Cinavia deployments to date have demonstrated a striking efficacy at increasing the market for legitimate Blu-ray Disc media as well as digital entertainment platforms incorporated in Blu-ray Disc players. We look forward to bringing our solution to more participants in the Blu-ray Disc market.â€

To facilitate timely and cost-effective deployment of Cinavia by player manufacturers, certified Cinavia components are currently available from Verance and numerous Blu-ray Disc component vendors and Verance is offering license fee waivers to manufacturers of players that implement Cinavia in accordance with Veranceâ€™s preferred screening specifications.

As many of you probably know Cinavia is not just a single watermark but a series of different watermarks that are used for different purposes and cause differing behaviours (and errors) depending on the type of watermark detected by the player and during what ‘window’ it was detected.

This ‘windowing model’ has recently become available and here’s what it looks like.

When an appropriate watermark is detected during the ‘No Home Use Window’ ‘Cinavia Message Code 1’ is triggered and playback ceases.

[B]Typical on-screen message:[/B]

â€œPlayback stopped. The content being played is protected by Cinaviaâ„¢ and is not authorized for playback on this device.
For more information, see http://www.cinavia.com.
Message Code 1.â€

[B]Typical front panel message:[/B]

â€œCinaviaâ„¢ playback restriction (1).â€

[B]Explanation[/B]

The audio track of the video that you are playing contains a Cinavia code indicating it was intended for presentation using professional equipment only (for example, in a theater) and is not authorized for playback by consumers.

When an appropriate watermark is detected during the ‘Trusted Source Window’ ‘Cinavia Message Code 3’ is triggered after 20 minutes of playback time.

[B]Typical on-screen message:[/B]

â€œAudio outputs temporarily muted. Do not adjust the playback volume. The content being played is protected by Cinaviaâ„¢
and is not authorized for playback on this device. For more information, see http://www.cinavia.com. Message Code 3.â€

[B]Typical front panel message:[/B]

â€œCinaviaâ„¢ playback restriction (3)â€

[B]Explanation [/B]

The audio track of the video that you are playing contains a Cinavia code indicating that it is an unauthorized copy of professionally-produced content.

Message Code 3 is only triggered after 20 minutes and according to Verance this is for production reasons as it ensures that quality control checks can be carried out on unfinalised, unencrypted discs without triggering the protection.

As predicted before Sony has now started closing the loopholes in Cinavia protection and DVDFab’s BDMV-REC format has now been targeted on the PS3.

If you upgrade your PS3’s firmware to version 4.10 (or above) the BDMV-REC method will no longer bypass Cinavia detection.

This gives users of DVDFab’s workaround a bit of a dilemma as Sony will presumably make this firmware update compulsory to play the latest games and any BDMV-REC discs already produced will effectively end up as coasters.

They’ll still play back but the Cinavia detection will activate as explained earlier in this thread.

Now that Sony are aware of how to close this loophole, firmware updates for standalone players are also more likely to follow.

On a more positive note it appears that owners of older standalones may actually be immune from all of this.

To detect Cinavia it would seem that the audio stream must first be decoded even when bitstreaming.

It is very likely that older players don’t have the processing power to be able to do this simultaneously and if this is the case then they’re therefore incapable of supporting Cinavia.

For anyone that has been following this Cinavia thread here is some awesome news!

No details yet as to exactly how it works (and this may never surface) but this is the most promising development yet and it looks like we’ll soon have access to the first permanent Cinavia bypassing solution.

The Studios are even working on new Algorithms Lionsgate especially, If the Lab if Germany had any hair color at all its now white. They over the past few months have come up with " the Lab announced this a few months back" and overlapping signal in the audio stream .

The Studios Lions Gate " and up to 17 sub studios" Sony /Universal " and up to 9 sub studios" are now involved in releasing titles now in Region A an B in different languages other than English . Latin titles are now surfacing out of Mexico but no connection to Spain releases. They have gotten real interesting tactics buy releasing through the sub studios and Cinavia may only be on a specific Language and not English.

Then there is the false positive algorithm that they have played with which through’s Pass Play interference.

What is a shame is why the top 3 developers can’t get together and unify the removal solution if this could be done this would Stop Cinavia dead in it tracks.